The country’s most critically ill COVID-19 patient, a British pilot, came off life support on the same day’s morning, said Luong Ngoc Khue, deputy head of the Treatment Sub-committee under the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
Over the past two days, doctors have gradually lowered his extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) settings, a system that acts as an artificial heart-lung system, to the point where they deemed it safe to switch off the machine this morning.
Khue noted that while the patient was off ECMO at the moment, his condition remains quite serious and will still be closely monitored, especially in terms of his lung infections and drug resistance.
The patient will need several weeks to be completely independent of life support and gradually restore his motor functions, he said.
In the afternoon, four more COVID-19 patients were given the all-clear and discharged from the Thai Binh General Hospital, bringing the total number of recoveries to 302.
They are now in stable health condition without fever, cough or breathing difficulties. They will continue staying in quarantine for health monitoring for the next 14 days.
A total of 8,169 people who had close contact with COVID-19 patients or entering Vietnam from pandemic-hit regions are being quarantined across the country, including 103 at hospitals, 7,104 at concentrated quarantine establishments and 962 at home.
